The press conference for the closing weekend of the Arts Alive Festival for this year was held last night at Melrose Arch. All the artists that will be performing tonight and tomorrow night were present at the conference and they all promised amazing shows respectively.
I had an absolute pleasure of meeting Tamia, the Canadian songtress. She is so friendly, sweet and very sexy. During the one-on-one meeting, I told her how much I love the hilarious Hanky Panky skit on her Between Friends album that she does with husband Grant Hill and with laughter she responded, "Do you like it? I'll see if I can slot it in during the performance tomorrow." During the press conference I posed a question about the benefits of releasing Between Friends on her own that she didn't enjoy with a major label. She answered that when she began with Quincy Jones at 19, it was a way for her to get into the industry, but now that she is 33, it is important for her to control her own life.
In addition, she has more control now, creatively, whereas there is not much of that with a big label. Tamia went on to say that it allows her to do whatever she feels. She noted that even being able to come to South Africa, it wouldn't be easier if a major label was involved. She added, "I love being the CEO and at the same time being the artist. I control the budget and pretty much everything about the projects I do". Control seems an important issue, as she mentioned that's why she released her last album here in South Africa first, to test it out and get the direction she needed.
The guys from Gallo, the marketing and distribution company that represents Tamia from this side, stood up to welcome Tamia to the country and uttered that she has sold about 330 000 albums already here. Tamia was very moved by the gesture and relayed the news that she will continue to work with Gallo. In fact, she mentioned she has a Live album she recorded in Washington D.C. that she is putting out very soon.
The other bands at the conference, including the Cuban maestro Eliades; Australia's Katherine Lambert, who was very bubbly and jolly throughout the session; Tokyo's DJ Crush; the hip hop outfit from Brazil, MnR; Munich's Cajus; and Robert Bachner; all displayed the joy of being in the country and promised their fans a lot of entertainment, dancing and good old fun.
I'm certainly looking forward to the weekend. I'll be attending the Eliades show tonight, and maybe check out Robert Bachner and MnR. Then tomorrow night, I'm definitely going to see Tamia after the 4th live So You Think You Can Dance broadcast. I'll report on these after the weekend.
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